Take Your Enemy to Work Day
by KeepingUpDisappearances
Summary: Nobue is determined to keep Miu from ruining her first day on a new job. Miu is determined to avoid that-if unintentionally. (Oneshot)


"Noby! Where have you been all day?" Miu demanded.

Nobue startled as Miu leaned through the window, standing precariously on the roof of the Ito home.

"Miu! How did you get in?" Nobue demanded. "I locked that window to keep you _out!_!"

Miu smiled angelically as she struggled through the partially open window and flopped onto Nobue's bed. Something dropped to the floor—a flat-headed screwdriver. Nobue narrowed her eyes at the redheaded girl, who was trying—badly as usual—to look innocent.

"Why, you little…!"

She lunged for Miu, but the latter leapt out of the way, seeking refuge on the desk, knocking a few papers off in the process. One of the sheets caught Miu's eye. _TAK Outlet employee contract_, she read to herself.

"Wow! You got a job at the TAK outlet?" Miu said. "Hey, do they have a friends discount?"

"You little—," Nobue repeated; she lunged at Miu and tackled her to the bed. "That was private!"

"What days do you work?" Miu asked when Nobue finally let her go.

"As if I'm going to tell you!" Nobue yelped.

Just then, Chika appeared in the doorway, rolling her eyes at the altercation unfolding before her.

"Uh, Nobue? Mom and Dad are ordering in tonight from Omori's," she said, referring to a restaurant that served traditional Japanese food. "What do you want?"

"I like their udon noodles with green onions and miso," Miu said.

"Not _you_, dummy!" Chika said. "Go eat at your own house."

Miu suddenly looked contrite and she smiled politely.

"You're right. I don't want to bother you and your parents. Well, I'll see you tomorrow!"

With that, she scrambled out the window, leapt the narrow space between the two houses, and vanished into her bedroom window, leaving Nobue and her sister looking after her in surprise.

"She was oddly agreeable," Chika mused. "Usually we have to threaten her to get her to stop begging."

"_Too_ agreeable," Nobue said. "She's up to something."

_**The next morning (Saturday)**_

Nobue woke up reluctantly. She sighed heavily as she hurried into her work uniform, and raced down the stairs. Her parents and Chika were already sitting at the table, eating breakfast, when she burst into the kitchen.

"Good morning! Ready for your new job?" Mr. Ito asked.

"Assuming it goes better THAN MY LAST ONE!" Nobue said, glaring at Chika.

"Hey, I didn't do anything! It was Miu who wouldn't stop bugging you!" Chika protested. "Besides, you didn't like being a waitress, anyway."

"Maybe not, but you and the girls were really annoying," Nobue insisted before sitting down to eat…whatever it was on the plate in front of her.

"It's my special _yaminabe_," Mrs. Ito said.

Nobue and Chika looked at each other and exchanged a quick look of alarm. Mrs. Ito hated having individual containers of leftovers in the fridge, so very frequently the family was suspect to this hotpot. In Nobue's bowl, in addition to miso broth and udon noodles, there was sausage from yesterday morning's breakfast, cucumbers and green onions that had topped a now-wilted salad, ham scraps from when Mrs. Ito had made a casserole for an elderly neighbor, and lentils from last night's stew.

Knowing Mrs. Ito's sensitivity to any perceived criticism of her cooking, Mr. Ito and the girls ate the hot pot dish with brave faces, and she seemed none the wiser.

"Well, I'm off to work," Nobue said cheerfully. "Chika, I know you won't listen to me if I tell you not to come, but if you do, make sure you're ALONE."

A warm breeze greeted her as she left the house and headed to her motorcycle. She reluctantly donned her helmet; she'd hear no end of it from her parents if she refused to wear it. _"Better to mess your hair up than dash your brains out,"_ she could almost hear her mother saying.

As she adjusted the chin strap, Nobue saw something rustle in a bush in front of the Matsuoka's home. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously but there was no further movement. _You're being paranoid, Noby,_ she told herself. _It was just a bird_.

**X**

Nobue's first few hours on her new job at the popular discount clothing and home accessories store was all a blur of unpacking boxes of merchandise, racking clothes, restocking shelves, and putting the empty boxes in the compactor for recycling. By the time she finally got her break, she beat a hasty retreat to the break room limp and ate her lunch with a speed and alacrity that would've horrified her mother.

Reluctantly she returned to the floor. And then…

"Miss?" a much too familiar voice piped up as she was stacking towels.

"Go away," Nobue hissed.

"Can you tell me which brand of towel is better? I'm very picky."

"Miu," Nobue muttered, "go home. Go play with one of the other girls."

"Can't. Ana and Mats are shopping with Mrs. Coppola. Chika's baking cookies, but she won't let me help."

"Miu," Nobue growled, "shut up and leave. I mean it."

The older girl fought an urge to grab Miu by her pigtails and drag her outside. The little pest! She must have been hiding in the bushes, waiting to see when Nobue left. Turning away, she moved on to the next task, marking down a shelf of holiday-themed décor. Nobue was aware that Miu was following her like a shadow, but she set her mind steadily to her work and ignored the girl. Surely she'd grow tired of her little game and go home. Hopefully to bother Chika, Nobue thought. Or anyone but her, really.

"Is this your little sister, Nobue?" someone asked, and Nobue looked up to see her boss, Ms. Omori.

"She's a friend of my sister," Nobue answered carefully.

"I know you mean well, but you know minor guests aren't allowed while you're working," Ms. Omori said.

"_She_ came _here_, Ms. Omori," Nobue protested.

"Is there someone you can call to take her home? Allowing her on the floor while you're paying attention to work is a safety issue."

"She can go home the way she came," Nobue snapped, and then apologized quickly. "I'm sorry, Ms. Omori. I didn't mean to be rude. Miu, how _did_ you get down here?"

"Mrs. Coppola dropped me off on her way to shop with Ana and Mats. She'll be back in half an hour."

"Nobue, please clock out until your—friend is picked up," Miss Omori said sternly.

Friend! Right now Miu was a sworn enemy. And her Nobue had been trying to put all her effort into doing her job well. If it wasn't for her boss's stern commands, Nobue would have kicked Miu in the knees. God, but that girl was a pest! Chika was a possible candidate for the enemy list, too. If she'd let Miu help her bake, it would've been a normal first day on the job.

"Yes, Ms. Omori," Nobue obeyed. With utmost patience she turned to Miu. "After I clock out, I can show you around the store."

At that moment, a strident voice shouted, "Miss? _Miss?_ Excuse me!"

Nobue sighed and turned in the direction of the voice. An angry older woman was glaring at her.

"Miss," she continued contemptuously, "I'm looking for this in another size." She held up a sweater.

"I'm sorry," Nobue apologized. "That's from our sales rack. We're getting rid of our winter stock. Everything on the rack is discontinued."

"Very poor service indeed! You should have ordered more!" the woman exclaimed.

"I'm not in charge of the ordering, ma'am," Nobue said meekly.

"Don't get all hoity-toity. Well, I suppose I can have this tailored, but I want a discount. It'll be _very _inconvenient."

"I can't—"

"Don't tell me what you can and can't do! I've been shopping here for _years, _I deserve some considerati—"

Suddenly, a blur of red hair and pink overalls stepped between Nobue and the irate customer. There was indignation in Miu's pose as the woman stared suspiciously at her.

"Leave her alone!" Miu screeched. "She's being very nice and you're being a brat! She's just doing her job, so take your ugly sweater and leave!"

The woman looked back in astonishment, just as the sound of clapping filled the store. The customer, Miu, and Nobue looked around to see a small group of people—even Ms. Omori!—clapping. The woman turned a very bright shade of red, muttered something about "mouthy little brats" and stomped off in injured dignity.

Nobue turned to Miu and grinned.

"You're a brat, you test my patience whenever you're around, and sometimes I want to mail you to another country, but you're a good friend," she said.

* * *

**A/N: The TAK Outlet appears in an illustrated panel in Vol. 1, Ch. 1 of the English translation.**


End file.
